Tree with a Bird in it

<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page27" name="page27"></SPAN>[27]</span></p> <div><SPAN name="h2H_4_0018" id="h2H_4_0018"></SPAN></div> <h2> <i>Richard Le Gallienne</i> </h2> <p class="quote"> (Advancing with a dreamy air of there still being a Yellow Book.)</p> <h3> BALLADE OF SPRING CHICKENS </h3> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <p class="i2"> Spring comes&mdash;yet where the dream that glows? </p> <p class="i4"> There only waves upon the lea </p> <p class="i2"> A lonely pear-bough where doth doze </p> <p class="i4"> A bird of green, and merely he: </p> <p class="i4"> Why weave of him our poetry? </p> <p class="i2"> Why of a Grackle need we sing? </p> <p class="i4"> Ah, far another fowl for me&mdash; </p> <p class="i2"> I seek Spring Chickens in the Spring. </p> </div> <div class="stanza"> <p class="i2"> Though May returns, and frisking shows </p> <p class="i4"> Her ankles through this white clad tree, </p> <p class="i2"> Alas, old Spring's gone with the rose, </p> <p class="i4"> Gone is all old romance and glee&mdash; </p> <p class="i4"> Yet still a joy remains to me&mdash; </p> <p class="i2"> Softly our lyric lutes unstring, </p> <p class="i4"> Far from this Grackle we shall flee </p> <p class="i2"> And seek Spring Chickens in the Spring! </p> </div> <div class="stanza"> <p class="i2"> Too soon Youth's <i>mss</i> must close, </p> <p class="i4"> (<i>Omar</i>) its rose be pot-pourri; </p> <p class="i2"> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page28" name="page28"></SPAN>[28]</span> What of this bird and all his woes! </p> <p class="i4"> Catulla, I would fly to thee&mdash; </p> <p class="i4"> Bright bird of luring lingerie, </p> <p class="i2"> Of bushy bob, of knees aswing, </p> <p class="i4"> This golden task be mine in fee, </p> <p class="i2"> To seek Spring Chickens in the Spring! </p> </div> <p class="i18"> <i>Envoi</i></p> <div class="stanza"> <p class="i2"> Prince, let us leave this grove, pardie, </p> <p class="i4"> A flapper is a fairer thing: </p> <p class="i2"> Let us fare fast where such there be, </p> <p class="i4"> And seek Spring Chickens in the Spring! </p> </div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />